Burgers Remain A Hot Trend, Per Technomic

CHICAGO (July 6, 2011)—A new study released by Technomic finds burger consumption up considerably since 2009, with nearly half of today’s consumers saying they eat a burger at least once a week compared with 38 percent two years ago. One reason for the increase is the continued prominence of burgers on quick-service value menus.

“The value menu is certainly a big part of this increase in burger consumption,” says Sara Monnette, Director of Consumer Research at Technomic. “There are other factors at work, however, as the specialty burger craze has driven growth in a way that is almost defiantly separate from pricing. The better burger restaurants in the fast casual segment have put the burger top-of-mind for consumers, and even the quick-service chains have begun to respond and focus portions of their menus specifically on quality perceptions.”

To help food industry professionals stay abreast of how current issues and evolving consumer need-states impact burger consumption, Technomic has developed the Burger Consumer Trend Report:

Findings include:

Younger consumers are highly interested in vegetarian burger options, with 23 percent of consumers between the ages of 18-34 saying it is important for vegetarian burgers to be available on restaurant menus.

The importance of health-halo attributes such as all natural, hormone-free, steroid-free and antibiotic-free has grown since 2009. Half of consumers currently say it is very important to them that the meat used to make their burger is steroid free.

The most commonly offered cheese on burgers at limited-service restaurants is American, but Cheddar is by far the most popular in the full-service segment.

The Consumer Insights section examines the burger consumption, purchasing behavior, attitudes and preferences of more than 1,500 consumers. The Competitive Insights section identifies what consumers find most appealing about burgers offered at more than 40 leading limited- and full-service chains.

Additionally, data from Technomic‘s 2009 Burger Consumer Trend Report is included throughout the report to provide a benchmark for many of the consumer trends that are discussed. The report also contains detailed concept and menu profiles for 20 innovative and emerging burger concepts and full demographic profiles of consumers who purchase burgers at more than 40 leading limited- and full-service chains offering burgers.

Winsight is the only B2B media company providing actionable information and market intelligence to business leaders and suppliers in three of the fastest growing industries — convenience retailing, restaurants and noncommercial foodservice.